This week Women in Solar+ Europe gives voice to Delfina Muñoz, Research Director & Strategic Project Manager at France’s CEA. She says diversity is a catalyst for faster, fairer clean energy innovation. Inclusion, mentorship, and authentic leadership don’t just support people, they build stronger, more resilient teams that power the energy transition forward.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that February saw a sharp East Asia solar divide, with southern China and Taiwan experiencing record-high irradiance due to clear skies and low aerosols, while maritime Southeast Asia faced heavy rainfall and below-average irradiance from enhanced tropical convection. The surplus in China was driven by atmospheric cleanliness, whereas Taiwan’s boost came mainly from persistently clear days, contrasting with widespread deficits across Indonesia, the southern Philippines, and nearby islands.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.

Iran is widely known for its oil and gas resources, but its strongest long-term energy asset may be the sun. New research shows how solar PV could drive a cost-competitive transition across power, heat, transport, industry, and desalination, while opening the door to a broader Solar-to-X Economy.

Australia has become one of the world’s most attractive destinations for hyperscale data centers, ranking among the top five to 10 markets globally by capacity. Drivers include large land availability in Renewable Energy Zones, renewable penetration exceeding 40% across the National Electricity Market (NEM), geopolitical stability, Five Eyes membership, and proximity to Asia-Pacific demand hubs.

Slovakia’s total solar additions last year fall in line with those seen the prior two years, with cumulative capacity now standing in excess of 1.3 GW.

France’s energy regulator plans to link PV support to storage as negative power prices increase and reduce solar revenues.

GCL Optoelectronics has won a 1.2 MW commercial perovskite/silicon tandem solar module tender held by China’s Huaneng. The procurement required mass-producible, IEC-certified modules with over 26% efficiency, a 25-year performance warranty, and delivery by June 2026.

Tokyo’s grid has joined every other transmission system operator area in Japan in experiencing economic curtailment, as solar output growth outpaces the flexibility of the country’s largest regional power market.

Heat pumps and solar PV effectively mandated under new building regulations for England. UK government says it is stepping up push for clean power in response to Iran war. Major UK retailers expected to have first plug-in solar devices on shelves within months.

Researchers in China demonstrated that integrating energy tower heat pumps with evaporator-side boilers, air-source heat pumps, or solar-assisted systems can significantly improve winter heating efficiency and economic performance in commercial buildings. Among the four configurations tested, the evaporator-side boiler and solar-assisted systems delivered the highest performance and energy savings, offering a sustainable, low-carbon alternative to conventional heating.

In an interview with pv magazine, cybersecurity expert Mohammad Al Faruque explains how seemingly simple sensors in PV systems and other energy systems are surprisingly vulnerable to magnetic, electrical, and acoustic perturbations, which can remotely influence control systems without physical access. Protecting these sensors requires both strict physical security and the development of hardened, interference-resistant technology to safeguard critical infrastructure.

Researchers in the United Kingdom have developed a smart window that combines switchable polymer-dispersed liquid crystal with integrated PV cells, offering controllable transparency and electricity generation. The system balances light, heat, and solar protection while maintaining high visual quality and stable performance, according to its creators.

Alparslan Bayraktar, Türkiye’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, says 2026 will be a record year for renewables in the country after total deployed solar reached 25,827 MW by the end of January.

Invertix has launched 22 specialized AI “workers” to automate O&M tasks for renewable energy assets, targeting inefficiencies in data handling, alarm management, and reporting. The startup says its system enables PV plant operators to scale portfolios more efficiently by reducing manual workloads, while keeping humans in the loop for critical decisions.

Researchers at Ulm University and Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena have built a molecular system that captures solar energy in a water-soluble redox copolymer, stores it at more than 80% charging efficiency for several days, and releases it as hydrogen with 72% conversion efficiency whenever required.

Spain’s Fundación Ciudad de la Energía (Ciuden), a government energy research foundation, has completed operational testing of a 1 MW/8 MWh vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) system at its Cubillos del Sil technology center, which it says is the largest vanadium flow battery in Europe dedicated to applied research.

Researchers at the German institute found that some widely used PV cleaning agents can damage anti reflective glass coatings, significantly reducing solar module efficiency. Their tests showed that while some cleaners are safe, others cause visible and permanent coating degradation, highlighting the need for careful selection of cleaning products to avoid long term performance loss.

LMU researchers have developed a dual molecular reinforcement strategy for perovskite solar cells that strengthens grain boundaries, improving both durability and performance.

Elon Musk, the CEO of both Tesla and SpaceX, raised some eyebrows at this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, when he predicted “that the lowest cost place to put AI will be space and that will be true within two to three years, three at the latest.” pv magazine reported on Musk’s vision on our global website www.pv-magazine.com on Jan. 26, 2026, and exactly one week later SpaceX announced that it was acquiring xAI “to form the most ambitious, vertically integrated innovation engine on (and off) Earth, with AI, rockets, space-based internet, direct-to-mobile device communications, and the world’s foremost real-time information and free speech platform.”

In an interview with pv magazine, cybersecurity expert Roberto Setola describes a structural shift in cyber threats against solar energy infrastructure, where attacks now target peripheral systems like remote terminal units rather than centralized SCADA, often in coordinated campaigns amplified by AI. He also emphasized that the recent cyberattack to PV plants in Poland demonstrated how simultaneous strikes on smaller, less-protected operators can potentially trigger major disruptions, including blackouts, economic losses, and cascading grid risks.

JinkoSolar has appointed Cao Haiyun as chief executive, while PowerChina has shortlisted 26 suppliers for a 31 GW solar module tender for 2026.

German engineering firm BEC Energie Consult has developed a substructure for low-mounted agrivoltaics designed to provide cost-efficient installation while supporting crop growth and livestock management, with the potential to enhance economic viability.

Swish Solar has an AI-driven tool that optimizes solar panel cleaning schedules to reduce soiling losses and operating costs. The platform uses data analytics and forecasting models to help operators time cleaning based on financial impact.

Germany’s solar sector is reporting a surge in inquiries following the military escalation between Israel, the United States, and Iran, with E.ON citing a doubling of demand for solar installations. Other industry participants are more cautious, attributing much of the increase to seasonal patterns rather than geopolitical anxiety.

Analysis across 16 European countries finds an around 240,000 increase in the number of residential heat pump sales year-on-year. The European Heat Pump Association attributes the upward trend to governments stabilizing subsidy schemes.

Ghana’s Minister for Energy and Green Transition says the country will advertise competitive bidding processes to deploy 200 MW of battery storage across the country. Ghana’s current installed battery capacity stands at 10 MWh.

Brazil’s second Long-term Reserve Capacity Auction (LRCAP) of 2026 has contracted 501 MW of thermoelectric capacity, leaving an estimated 3 GW of remaining demand to be addressed in a forthcoming battery storage auction expected later this year.

The BESS insurance risk profile is shifting. In an exclusive interview, Tokio Marine GX underwriter Michael Carrington explains why insurers are looking past battery fires and sweating over supply chain bottlenecks, high-voltage transformers, and costly EPC integration errors.

Sweden’s Ionautics has advanced its platinum-based hydrogen catalyst toward full-scale industrial production, while thyssenkrupp nucera has signed contracts for 300 MW of alkaline electrolysis capacity in Spain and 260 MW in India.